Articles
Healing from Trauma/Neglect/Abuse
Is My Grandchild Too Affectionate with Strangers?
Many young children feel free and safe to approach strangers with smiles and waves. They have not yet processed the "stranger danger" conversations that parents and caregivers will dole out over the coming years. They are curious, innocent, and trusting. But what do...
Connecting with Tweens and Teens
Raising your grandchildren (or nephews or cousins) can be a deeply rewarding and joyful experience in this season of your life. However, sometimes, these precious children become grumpy, sweaty, almost adult-sized beings you don't recognize for a moment. Suddenly,...
6 Tips for Raising an Older Grandchild or Relative
Raising your grandchild, nephew, or cousin is not for the faint of heart! While this experience can be one of the most rewarding things you ever do, it might also be one of the most challenging journeys ever! Welcoming and raising an older child to your home –...
Impacts of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs
Talking to Your Grandchild About a Parent’s Drug or Substance Abuse
Your grandchild (or other loved one’s child) came to you with the weight of scary or challenging experiences. Your priority is to help this child feel safe, loved, and supported. This site, your extended family, and professionals in your community are surrounding you...
Helping Your Grandchild Avoid Substance Abuse
The time your grandchild spends in your care, in the nurturing, stable environment of your home, can be a powerful force that protects them from risky behaviors like underage drinking or drug use. You know that you cannot erase the experiences this child had before...
Caring For Prenatally Exposed Babies
Did you know that 10-11% of babies born in the US have been exposed to alcohol, drugs, or both before birth? The percentage is even higher for kids who are being raised by their grandparents or other relatives. And remember that drug exposure can include both legal...
Challenging Behaviors
Managing the Day-to-Day with Younger Grandchildren
Parenting young kids today is quite different from when you were raising your children. Schools demand more connection between home and teachers. Phones, tablets, and laptops are the norm, even for preschool or early elementary-aged kids. And it probably feels like...
Using Behavior Charts to Help Kids Improve Behavior
Does your grandchild or nephew struggle with skipping homework, whining over chores, fighting with siblings, or raging when told "no?" Does this child have BIG emotions that are out of sync with the circumstances? Does behavior go off the rails when they get lost in...
How to Avoid Triggering and Being Triggered by Your Grandchild
Raising a child with challenging behaviors like lying, stealing, tantrums, or defiance can be exhausting and frustrating. When their actions stress you, it’s hard to manage your emotions and theirs, too. It’s easy to slip into the cycle of the child triggering you and...
ADHD
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Disrupting Birth Order
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Helping A Child Heal from Sexual Abuse
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School Issues for Foster & Kinship Kids
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Technology/Internet and Our Kids
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Self-Care for Kinship and Foster Parents
Stop and Assess: How are YOU Doing?
Caring for a relative's child, whether for a long weekend or an extended season, can be rewarding and fulfilling. However, suppose you aren't used to supporting a child impacted by loss, neglect, or prenatal substance exposure. In that case, it can also be bewildering...
Practical Tips to Starting Regular Self-Care
When you are raising a child from your extended family or tribal community, you are giving of yourself in new and challenging ways. Your grandchild (or cousin or nephew) needs you to help them overcome their struggles. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by their needs and...
Making Self-Care a Routine
Raising a grandchild (or nephew or cousin) brings both joy and stress. You love them and you love knowing that they are safe, but raising a child is a lot of work! Think back to when you were raising your kids and remember how tired you were. Now add a few or a lot of...
Relationship with Child’s Parent
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Working Together For the Good of the Child In Your Care
Welcoming a Relative Child When You Have Children Already in the Home
Adding a child to your family changes how you function in your home. Frequently, the kids already living in your home feel these changes most profoundly. This article will refer to them as "resident children." Tips to Prepare Resident Children Whether you are offering...
Preparing Teens with Cognitive Delays for Adulthood
Have you heard from a doctor or a teacher that your grandchild (or niece or cousin) has “cognitive delays”? Or maybe you’ve heard that the child has developmental delays or an intellectual disability. Whatever it is called, you know that this child develops and learns...
10 Tips for Shared Parenting in Difficult Situations
In an ideal world, helping raise your grandchild (or cousin or family friend) goes smoothly. You provide a safe, happy landing place for the child while the parents work hard to get back on their feet. All the involved adults share the same goal of returning the child...
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This website was supported with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families’ Children’s Bureau through the Improving Child Welfare Through Investing in Family grant #HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921. The purpose of this grant is to provide an array of kinship preparation services and ongoing kinship supports, and provide shared parenting to build trusting relationships between all out-of-home caregivers and parents of children/youth in foster care to ensure parents and families remain actively involved in normal child-rearing activities.
This website is supported by Grant Number # HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921 from the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Children’s Bureau.